A driver who ‘did not see’ an elderly pedestrian cross the road has been found guilty of death by careless driving.

Daniel Allum, 41, of Stainash Crescent, Staines was driving from Staines to Twickenham on Wednesday January 22 in the left hand lane, when he hit Reginald Harding, 89, who ‘just appeared’ on the dual carriageway at around 8.10pm on Staines West Road in Sunbury – later dying at the scene.

Mr Harding, a retired police officer from Ashford, had been wearing black trousers, and a light coloured coat, holding a walking stick and carrier bags, magistrates in Staines heard on Wednesday last week.

Allum was not speeding, using his phone, or had not drunk any alcohol before driving, the court heard.

Allum claimed that, due to two emergency vehicles passing him on the road minutes before, he was looking out for others by checking his mirrors, when Mr Harding ‘came out of nowhere,’ only seeing him ‘moments’ before the impact.

Toby Gee, a witness, was slightly behind the defendant in the right hand lane, who claimed to have seen Mr Harding, around 100-150 metres away, step into the road from the central reservation.

He said: “The man walked slow, he appeared unaware. He was looking at the floor.”

Mr Gee told the court he had started to slow as soon as he saw Mr Harding, and held down his horn. He said Mr Harding was ‘lifted into the air’ on impact.

“I asked the driver (Allum) if he was alright, he asked if the man he hit was alive. He was mortified, obviously,” Mr Gee said.

Another witness, Jacqueline Pinner, was at the junction on Alexandra Road, when she saw Mr Harding - who she knew as her friend’s next door neighbour - cross the road almost directly opposite her.

She said: “(I thought) what is he doing? Get out of the road. I had my head in my hands, I didn’t hear any brakes, just a dreadful thud, with plastic bags going into the air.”

'The car came from nowhere'

Jacqueline Berry, who was sat in the passenger seat of Ms Pinner’s car, was Mr Harding’s neighbour.

She said in her statement: “Reg had put his hand in the air, as if to acknowledge us. I said, ‘Oh look, there’s Reg,’ then immediately there was bag debris going everywhere.

“The car came from nowhere, it was just silence then, bang.”

Ms Berry continued to tell the court that Mr Harding had landed around four or five car lengths to where he had been before.

The court heard that none of the witnesses had heard the ‘screeching’ of breaks, nor saw any break lights come from Allum’s car.

Prosecutor Mattew Heywood, when questioning Allum, said: “Mr Gee saw him, Jacqueline Pinner and Jacqueline Berry see him. You are the only one that did not see him.

“I suggest that Mr Harding was in the road for a considerable amount of time, and you still did not see him.

“All it takes is to look down for a few seconds.”

The defendant told the court that it was a very ‘unlikely place to cross’ as it was a dual carriage way without a pedestrian crossing, and that it wasn’t ‘well lit.’”

Allum, president of a classic car club, had two good character references who described him as trust worthy and dependable. David Field, told the court that Allum was the ‘go to guy’, who he had often trusted to drive his own classic cars to overseas to shows.

District Judge Humfrey Malins said: “This is a tragic and sad case, and the courts sympathy goes to everyone who has been effected by it.

“In my opinion, the driving which he displayed that day was of such quality as to make him guilty of this offence.”

Allum was granted unconditional bail, and will be sentenced on Wednesday December 3. Mr Malins reassured Allum that he would not go to prison.